Elimidate! Konoha Edition
by chuunin alchemist
Summary: Naruto,Lee,Neji and amazingly Shikamaru,fight for Sakura's affection! Is she happy about it? Where is Sasuke? And why is Kakashi holding a microphone? Read and find out!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Elimidate, or Naruto. This would explain why this is a FAN fiction.

Note: I did not put Sasuke, because the bachelorette will be the one to vote out the candidates, therefore giving him an automatic win.

_Italics _after statements mean thinking.

**Elimidate: Konoha Edition!**

A masked emcee stepped up to the camera.

"Yo! Hatake Kakashi here, your official host for the Konoha edition of Elimidate!" he said. "Welcome to the show!"

(audience claps)

"For starters, here are the rules! The bachelorette will have to choose which guy to eliminate after each event. That simple!"

"And now, to introduce our (ehem) esteemed bachelorette. . . ."

(drumroll, please!)

"Haruno Sakura-chan!"

(audience claps)

A pretty pink-haired girl stepped into the line of view.

"Now, Sakura-chan," said Kakashi. "Please introduce yourself."

"Hi, I'm Haruno Sakura. I'm thirteen, and I'm in ninja cell team seven, under Hatake Kakashi-sensei over there with the microphone. My hobbies include practicing jutsus, hanging out with my friends, scolding Naruto-"

There was much laughter backstage as a certain blue-eyed, orange-clad shinobi fought himself to keep quiet.

"And. . . . Um, joining a certain fanclub. . ." continued Sakura.

Several dozen Sasuke fans and Sakura supporters cheered.

"Now, we're done with the introductions!" said Kakashi. "Today's Elimidate will take place at Konoha's annual carnival. And now, for the suitors!"

"Introdicing bachelor number one. . ."

"Please be Sasuke, please be Sasuke, please be Sasuke. . ." said inner Sakura.

"Nara Shikamaru!'"

"What!" said Inner Sakura.

**Shikamaru POV one week ago**

"Mendokuse. . ." I thought, when I heard of that Elimidate thing.

"Oi, Shikamaru, don't you think this has been going on for too long?" said Chouji.

"What, your eating?"

"No, your unrequited love for Ino."

I spat out the tea I was drinking.

"Who the heck told you that!"

Chouji looked at his lost cause of a friend.

"Don't forget, I'm a ninja too. I notice that whenever she smiles at you, you get a funny look on your face. When you two spar together you always let her win. You always help her on her Sasuke stalking schemes and you go to her family's flower shop often even though your mom tells you that once a week is enough to go buy the garden fertilizer."

"I THOUGHT I was being too obvious." I replied.

"Speaking of which, Sakura-san is joining that Elimidate thing, and you know how close she is to Ino. You think that maybe Ino'd get jealous seeing you with another guy?" said Chouji.

"Leave the genius thinking to me, Chouji." I said, resuming my cloud watching.

_Later. . . . . ._

"Taku, why am I even doing this. . ." I said, who had stepped out of the TV broadcasting station's office to register for Elimidate. I was really surprised to find Chouji outside, waiting for me.

"For Ino. And you'd better make sure you do your best, Neji says he saw Sasuke hanging around the area earlier."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"Sasuke? I thought he wasn't interested in that sort of thing. . ."

"That's what Neji said." said Chouji. "Well, good luck, Shikamaru-kun." He patted me on the back.

Sometimes, I remember that under several layers of fat lies my best friend.

Shikamaru stepped to the stage, in the designated area where the bachelors were supposed to stand.

"Meh. . . . ." thought Sakura. "Why HIM of all people? At least it's not-"

"Next bachelor! Rock Lee!" said Kakashi into the mike.

"Me and my big mouth. . . ." thought Sakura.

Lee smiled to the audience and posed.

(Cue audience sweatdrop.)

**Lee POV three days before**

"Gai-sensei!" said Lee, showing his beloved sensei an Elimidate flyer.

"What's this? A dating show?" read the sensei. "How YOUTHFUL!"

"And Sakura-san's joined it!" said Lee. "What should I do, Gai-sensei?"

"Follow your heart, Lee! You must do all possible to achieve your goal!"

"So I should join?"

"Do your best in the name of youth, Lee! You must, while you are in the springtime of youth!'

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

(Cue instant sunset background)

_Across the training area. . . ._

"Those two are at it again. . ." said Tenten.

"Must be destiny." said Neji. Tenten, of course, was unaware of what Neji had done several days before. . . .

"Lee AND Shikamaru? I just hope Sasuke's here. . . . ." thought Sakura.

"Next bachelor! Hyuuga Neji!"

Now it wasn't just Sakura that was shocked.

"NEJI! My eternal rival?" said Lee.

"Hmph. Lee. So you're here as well?" said Neji.

"Are you here to win Sakura-san over?" said Shikamaru. _So that's why Chouji saw him. . ._

"NO WAY AM I LETTING YOU HAVE SAKURA-CHAN!" shouted Naruto, running into view.

"Oh well, fourth bachelor, Uzumaki Naruto." said Kakashi. _Only in Konoha. . . ._

"So that's four bachelors in total. . . And no Sasuke in sight. . ." said Sakura to herself. "This is bad. . ."

"All of you, you'd better show up at the carnival tomorrow ok? That's when the official date will begin." said Kakashi backstage.

Sakura felt slightly nauseous.

"This is DEFINITELY not my idea of a dream date. . ."

Should I continue? Well? Tell me if you have any ideas! –chuunin alchemist


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews! And out of curiosity, what DOES 'dattebayo mean?

**.:Part 2:.**

Sakura looked at her watch, wondering why on earth she'd actually joined Elimidate in the first place. Ino had dared her to do it.

_Inner Sakura: NEVER do that again!_

Kakashi, with a troop of cameramen, hid in the bushes.

"Testing, the rain in Konoha falls during climaxes in the storyline. . ." said Kakashi, testing a microphone.

"Kakashi-san, we're on in five." said one of the cameramen.

"All right. Is my hair okay?" he asked.

"Gravity defying as it always is." said another of the film crew, holding up one of those huge fuzzy microphones that resembled a feather duster.

"Okay. Call in the bachelors."

Sakura was sitting at a bench near the carnival area.

"Ohayo, Konoha!" said Kakashi into the mike. "Here is Elimidate, Konoha Edition! Our young candidate, Haruno Sakura, is sitting over there unaware that our cameras are watching!"

"And now, for those who just tuned in, here are the bachelors!"

Naruto jumped out of the trees behind Sakura, effectively knocking down the bench and catapulting Sakura to the ground.

"I'm gonna win this contest and become Sakura's boyfriend, dattebayo!" he shouted.

"Naruto BAKA! You nearly scared me to death!" scolded Sakura.

"Daijobu, Sakura-san?" said Neji, calmly walking out of the trees. He went over to her and helped her up.

Sakura, blushing slightly from the caring gesture (which is uncommonly seen from Neji) , nodded. _Wow. Is this the real Neji?_

"SAKURA-SAN!" shouted Lee, whose entrance was similar to Naruto's.

". . . . . I'm fine, Lee. Neji helped me." said Sakura, brushing off some dirt from her dress.

"NEJI!" yelled Lee. "My eternal rival not only in career, but in love! I may not be able to defeat you in sparring but in love I shall. . . . ."

As Lee rambled on, Shikamaru stepped out of the bushes and handed Sakura a gift.

Sakura's eyes widened. "A Sasuke plushie! Thank you, Shikamaru-kun!"

"No problem." shrugged Shikamaru.

**.: Hyuuga Estate :.**

"Why are we here again?" said Tenten.

"To keep an eye on out male teammates!" said Ino. "Ne, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata twiddled her fingers nervously. She nodded.

Ino switched on the flat-screen tv, and began to search for the channel Elimidate was on.

"Lee, I understand. But Neji? Sakura?" wondered Tenten aloud. _I didn't know that Neji was the Sakura type. . ._

"Ano, I was wondering that as well. . . ." said Hinata.

"The biggest mystery of all, my friends, is why on earth that lazy Shikamaru would enter." declared Ino. _Why her? I mean, she's totally not his style. Sakura's pretty high maintenance. What on earth in Shikamaru thinking?_

"Don't you like Shikamaru?" said Tenten.

"Don't YOU like Neji? Besides, I really want to know what Sasuke is doing right now, I haven't seen him in ages. . ." said Ino.

Hinata watched the Naruto onscreen. _Naruto-kun. . . .I hope you win this. . ._

"Hey, what's that Shikamaru gave Sakura?" said Tenten "A Sasuke plushie?"

"WHAT!" said Ino. _He never gave ME a Sasuke plushie, and I'm his teammate! What is up with you, Shikamaru, choosing big-forehead-chan over me!_

"Ino, do I sense jealousy?" said Tenten.

"I'm betting you're the jealous one, Neji's never like that at training, is he?"

". . . . . . . He's not."

"Thought so. Fuzzy brows is noisy as usual. . ."

**.: Carnival :.**

"Hey look, a pie-eating contest!" said Naruto.

"Haven't they heard of Chouji?" said Shikamaru, getting a laugh out of everybody.

Neji inspected the rules.

"It says here, no Akimichis allowed to enter." said the Hyuuga.

"Are you?" said a very familiar voice.

Sakura's eyes lit up.

Naruto groaned.

Neji amd Shikamaru looked at each other.

Lee. . . . . .

"UCHIHA SASUKE! What brings you to the youthful carnival on this fine day?" said Lee.

"Nothing." said Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun!" smiled Sakura.

He ignored her.

"Well, I'M entering." Sasuke proceeded to write his name on the entry form.

"I won't let Sasuke-teme beat me!" said Naruto, who grabbed an entry form and started writing.

"Nor will I!" said Lee, who followed suit.

"Wait, guys—" said Sakura, only to see Neji write his name as well.

"Mendokuse. . . ." Shikamaru followed.

Behind an okonomiyaki stall. . . .

"And so, is the first Elimidate challenge!" said Kakashi. "Will our bachelors beat the object of young Sakura's affection? Will they be able to out-eat each other? What role does Uchiha Sasuke play in all of this? And, the mystery of all mysteries, where in the world is Akimichi Chouji? Find out, after the commercial break!"

"Aaand cut!" said the cameraman. He and the others quickly ran off to find a good spot to set up the cameras.

"That was great, Kakashi-san!" said Iruka, who'd tagged along. "I just hope that Naruto-kun doesn't explode from all the pies. . ."

"You of all people should know, Iruka. And you can ditch the honorifics (examples: -chan, -san, -kun) when it's just the two of us." said Kakashi.

"Oh! Right. Kakashi." smiled Iruka.

"Anyway, if Naruto-kun can eat almost two dozen bowls of ramen on a good day, who knows how many pies he can eat?" said Kakashi, taking out a familiar-looking volume of Icha Icha Paradise.

"Reading that one again?" inquired Iruka.

"You can never reread a book too many times." smiled Kakashi, under the mask.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A little short, in my opinion, but I'd like to hear yours! Your opinion, I mean. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for the reviews! Now I know what 'Dattebayo' means! (big Naruto-type smile)

**.: Part 3 :.**

_About 20 minutes before the actual pie-eating contest. . . ._

"Shikamaru! How's the date going?" said Chouji, eating some barbecue. And a stick of Dango (dumpling ball-like food).

"Not too good. I've entered a pie-eating contest. . . ." said Shikamaru gravely. "But I DID give Sakura-san a Sasuke plushie. That should get Ino's attention. . . Should it?"

"Lucky you, you get to eat stuff and win something for it." smiled Chouji. _Better avoid Ino as the subject. Shika-kun gets nervous when he talks about Ino._

"Ne, Chouji, I've got a plan for this. . . ."

Shikamaru proceeded to whisper into his chubby friend's ear.

"That's a great idea!" said Chouji.

"Don't do anything stupid, okay?" said Shikamaru, patting his pal on the back. _Gah, I hope Ino doesn't see through it. . . Or even worse, Sasuke. There's a good chance that Neji might notice. . . . No worries about Naruto or Lee. . . ._

"I won't, what time's the contest?" asked Chouji.

"It's in about fifteen minutes." replied Shikamaru.

_Fifteen minutes later. . . ._

"Ne, ne, Sakura-chan, if I win this contest, will you not vote me out, dattebayo?" said Naruto. He and Sakura were leaning on the fence that surrounded the contest area.

"We'll see." said Sakura, absentmindedly strolling the soft head of her Sasuke plushie. _Now why on earth would Shikamaru enter Elimidate with me as the leading lady? And he gave me a Sasuke plushie! Ino's gonna be SO jealous. . . . Hey, wait a minute. . . . . . . Ino? Jealous? Now I get it! Now that just leaves Neji-_

"Sakura-san." said the Hyuuga, holding a fruit shake in his hand. "I was worried that you might be thirsty in this heat, so I bought you a drink. It's a peach and mango fruit shake. . ."

"Thank you, Neji-kun!" smiled Sakura. _He's being awfully nice to me. . . . Maybe he wants to get Tenten jealous? . . . . Doesn't look like it though._

"You're welcome. And by the way, Lee's been attempting to get you a gift by blowing most of his money on carnival games. He look like he's getting the hang of it, so don't be surprised if he gets you some large green toy. . ." continued Neji, who looked in the direction of the carnival attractions. He leaned on the fence, as a cool breeze blew their way. Neji's neatly tied hair was blown slightly with the wind, giving Sakura an extremely great view of his facial features.

"I'll keep that in mind." said Sakura, who began to admire the Hyuuga prodigy. _His skin is in great condition! I'll bet he moisturizes more than Ino and Tenten. . . And his face looks so serene. It kind of reminds me of Sasuke-kun, but it has its own. . . . . I can't describe it. It's just. . . .so. . . . so. . . So Neji._

"Ne, Sakura-chan, after this can we go out on a date with just the two of us, huh? Please, dattebayo?" asked Naruto cutely.

"Naruto, will you just. . . . keep quiet for now?" said Sakura, who was beginning to like Neji.

Naruto balked. _She didn't say 'Shut up' or 'Naruto baka' or. .or. . . _(notices her looking at Neji)_ Dang it! Looks like Sasuke and Lee aren't the only ones I have to compete with! And I thought he wasn't serious!_

Just then, Lee arrived with a small but pretty-looking object. And, as usual, Neji timed his walking over to Naruto's side of the fence perfectly.

"Ah, Sakura-san! I got you something!" smiled the green-clad youth. _I hope she likes it, I hope she likes it, I hope she likes it. . . ._

Sakura took a good look at the hairpiece Lee had won for her. It was an ornamental comb, with a lotus and cherry blossom pattern. The character 'Youth' was engraved on it.

". . . Thank you, Lee. . . ." said Sakura, sweatdropping slightly. _Typical of him. Wonder where he found it though. . ._

"You're welcome!" said Lee happily. _SHE LIKED IT! Yosh!_

Neji examined Sakura's reaction carefully. _Hmmm. Her reaction wasn't exactly spectacular. The one she got from the Sasuke plushie was more effective._

"Okay! That leaves Shikamaru and Sasuke. And the contest starts in a few minutes. . ." said Sakura, who noticed some of the local Konoha citizens carrying trays laden with pies.

"You don't have to worry about Sasuke. . ."said Naruto, pointing to a tree several meters away. Sasuke was sitting under it with a sleepy expression.

_earlier_

"SASUKE!"

"SASUKE-KUUN!"

"Okay, Misumi, Hayate, keep them out of the area for the rest of the day!" said Kakashi.

"Easier. . . Said. . . . Than . . . . Done. . . ." said Misumi, struggling to hold back the horde of Sasuke fangirls that had stalked him to the carnival.

"Sheesh!" yelled Hayate. "Quiet down, willya!

"What's this?" said Sasuke.

"IT'S HIM!"

"EEEEE!"

"Oh, just a little something on our part to ensure that the show doesn't get uncontrollable. . ." said Kakashi, who was reading Icha Icha Paradise calmly amidst the senseless fangirl screaming and yelling.

"KAKASHI! A little help here!" yelled Misumi.

"Fangirls! Such youth!" said Gai, pirouetting out of nowhere.

Suddenly, all the fangirls stopped making noise to stare at the Jounin.

". . . . .ew." said a fangirl.

". . .no sense of style at all. . . ." said another.

". . .too. . . . . .form fitting. . . . ." said a fangirl, lookin like she was about to vomit.

". . .green. . . . ." said one, who looked traumatized.

"He looks like fuzzy brows!" squealed one.

"What is all this ruckus about, my dears? My attire is of no concern to thee, but if I must delegate to you what the youthful purposes of my outfit are then. . . ." Gai began one of his lengthy sermons, and amazingly, kept the fangirls at bay.

"Perfect timing, Gai!" said Misumi. Hayate was snickering madly.

"Don't mind us, Sasuke-kun, we'll handle all of this!" said Kakashi, teleporting.

_the contest proper _

"And we're on in five, four, three, two. . ." said one of Kakashi's cameramen.

"Welcome back folks, to Elimidate Konoha Edition!" said Kakashi. "Our aspiring boyfirnds and the girlfriend-to-be, Sakura, are right over there,in the fenced enclosure behind us! Sakura's beloved, Uchiha Sasuke. . ."

Kakashi poses dramatically as the viewers of Konoha hear their neighbor/daughter/sister/cousin/friend scream as stay-at-home Sasuke fangirls should.

". . . Has just appeared on the scene, challenging our bachelors to a pie-eating contest! As Sasuke's jounin mentor, I have NO idea about his pie-eating skills, but his main competition is, I think, Uzumaki Naruto, who is known to have eaten a dozen or so bowls of ramen at one sitting!"

Kakashi turns around as the camera zooms in to Lee, then Neji, and (eventually) Shikamaru.

"Rock Lee, the underdog of the group has had his eyes on Sakura-chan for quite some time, and his determination makes him one tough cookie to beat! Hyuuga Neji is a newcomer on the Sakura romancing scene, but we have yet to see Neji's strategy in effect!"

_Hinata's room _

"Neji's strategy in effect?" said Tenten. "That fruit shake looks like it should be part of the strategy, shouldn't it, Hinata-chan?"

"Y-yes, Hanabi runs t-that stall, and she only lets Neji-nii-san get t-the peach-mango blend. . . ." said Hinata, praying for Naruto not to get indigestion.

"Hmph. I still want a Sasuke plushie." said Ino, watching and listening, as the tv Kakashi continued his commentary.

"_And last is Nara Shikamaru, who gave the lovely miss Sakura a Sasuke plushie, a much coveted item among the Sasuke fangirl market. He seems to be the least competitive among the four bachelors, but who knows what this genius has up his sleeve?"_ blared the tv.

"His arm, of course!" said Ino. "What else would he have up his sleeve?" _Hey, now that I mention it, I recall Chouji telling me that Shikamaru has a secret pocket in his sleeve which he puts a picture of the girl he's in love with. . . . Who could it be? I'm the only girl he lets near him besides his mother. But maybe he likes Sakura-chan like Lee does. . ._

"Don't worry, Ino, I'm sure he has feelings for you!" smiled Tenten.

Hinata nodded. _I hope that Naruto-kun has feelings for me as well. . . . ._

_carniva_l

Akimichi Chouji watched the contest from a nearby hill. He munched slowly and lazily on his potato chips.

"How troublesome. . . . I hope he doesn't give me away. He always was one of the best when it comes to Henge no Jutsu, third to Sakura and Sasuke. . . ." said the faux Chouji.

The real Akimichi Chouji (who wasn't a big fan of pies) sat beside Neji, eyeing the raspberry pies in front of him. _This is slightly a lot more than I'm used to. . . . Shika-kun said to take it nice and slow, to squeeze most of the air out of the crust before eating, to say 'How troublesome' every few pies. . . ._

Neji looked straight ahead. He knew that the Shikamaru sitting beside him on the two-person bench had a little too much weight on the bench to qualify for someone as lazy as Shikamaru. _Doesn't matter, anyway. All I have to do is out-eat Lee, Naruto and the Uchiha and I'm all set for the next round._

He noticed Sakura sitting on the fence, cheering.

"Do your best, Sasuke-kun!" she cheered. "You too, Neji-kun!"

Neji nodded. _I hadn't noticed before, but she looks quite pretty when she smiles. I wonder if this is one of the reasons why Lee is in love with her. . .I certainly see why. Sakura would be a fine choice when it all comes down to the basics, and yet she's not one to be taken lightly. . . . (_Neji recalls several incidents in which she had sent Naruto flying to the top of the Hokage tower because naruto had pissed her off.)

"All right!" said the camouflaged Kakashi. "It looks like the contest's starting. . . . And there's the whistle!"

Naruto and Lee began eating like there was no tomorrow. Sasuke elegantly devoured his first pie, somehow managing to keep his clothes neat in the process. Chouji/Shikamaru took it slow, squeezing the pies just enough to take the puff out but not too much so that the raspberry filling remained intact.

"And Naruto, as expected taked the lead! The goal is to eat as many raspberry pies as possible in twenty minutes!" said Kakashi. "Here with me is Umino Iruka, a top chef at the Konoha academy, to give an expert's opinion of the heated battle! Iruka-sensei, whose technique is the most appropriate for this kind of competition?"

_ Hinata's room _

"What the heck is Kakashi-sensei doing?" said Ino, snickering. "He's treating this like a horse race!"

"I know! It's a good thing the boys are completely unaware of this. . ." smiled Tenten.

"_Well, Kakashi-sensei, Nara Shikamaru-kun seems to be on the right track! He first squeezes the air out of the pies, which ensures that he has enough room in his stomach for more food and less air. He also seems to be using a little bit of the Akimichi style of eating, which allows for more food consumption at a faster rate. He must have picked this up from his teammate Akimichi Chouji! Hyuuga neji is also doing quite well as compared to Naruto-kun and Rock Lee-kun, as the two of them are just eating like pigs. . . No offense to the two, of course. . ."_

"Gambatte, Naruto-kun. . . ." whispered Hinata.

_carnival_

"Munch. . . . Munch. . . . This is good." said Naruto.

"Must. . . .munch . . . .defeat. . . . Neji munch" munched Lee.

Sasuke ate in silence.

"How troublesome. . . ." said the Shikamaru impersonator.

Neji noticed Shika-Chouji's eating style, which was very convincing. He sped up, as he was half a pie behind Naruto.

"Go Sasuke!" cheered Sakura.

"And it looks like things are bad for Lee, folks! He looks sick!" said Kakashi.

"Groan. . . . Must. . . . Eat. . . . ." said Lee.

A few minutes later. . . .

"And the announcer blows the whistle!" said Kakashi. "Now they're tallying the scores. . . . Shikamaru's accompanied Lee to the bathroom, he looked like he was about to barf. . . ."

In fact, Shika-Chouji was waiting for Shikamaru to get down the hill.

"Great job, Chou." said Shikamaru, reverting back to his true form.

"Yeah. I think Neji caught on though, no amount of genjutsu can disguise my weight." said Chouji, frowning.

"That's okay, Chou, everyone still likes you anyway. Ino always says that you make a good pillow for sleeping on during missions."

"Hehe. . . ." smiled Chouji.

"Bleargh. . . . . I'm never eating pie again for the rest of my life. . ." said a very sick-looking Lee, exiting the bathroom.

As the three returned to the enclosure, they could hear a certain Uzumaki screaming. . . .

"YATTA! I won, dattebayo! Now I won't get eliminated!" yelled Naruto. "And I won a gift certificate to Ichiraku as well! Dattebayo!" He was jumping up and down, and it was a wonder that he wasn't vomiting.

"Baka! I'm eliminating you because you eat too much!" shouted Sakura, erstwhile a very amused Neji watched the proceedings. Sasuke, who'd come in second, won a gift certificate for a bookstore, which he had resolved to give to Kakashi. The bookstore in question sold the Icha Icha novels.

"NANI? Shoot!" said Naruto, giving a nearby rock a good kick. "OUCH! That hurt!"

"It's kind of obvious, don't you think, dobe?" said Sasuke.

"Y-yosh. . . ." said Lee. "I'm still. . . . In. . . ."

"I still beat you." smirked Neji. He had come in third, receiving a nifty-looking set of chopsticks.

"Gah. . . . ." groaned Lee. "Nooooooo. . . . ."

"Sheesh, Lee-kun. . . ." said Sakura, helping Lee sit down on the ground. She used a healing jutsu, and rubbed Lee's back.

Lee smiled, quite happy despite his condition.

Neji raised an eyebrow. _Despite all the times Sakura's rejected Lee (How many times again? It was about a hundred twenty-something when Tenten and I last counted. . .) she still treats him like a friend. Even if it does encourage him. I can't help admiring her for that. Once, somebody tried to ask me out for a date and I flat-out refused, then I ignored her for the rest of the year. . . .What was her name again? Anyway, Sakura seems VERY interesting to me now. . ._

"Oi, Neji, get that stupid smile off your face. Don't forget, you've got about half as many fangirls as Sasuke and that's still one heck of a lot." said Shikamaru, who had gotten fourth.

"I was smiling?"

"Yeah, either you were looking at Lee or at Sakura, and I suspect it's the latter. . . . Or is it the former?"

At this, the conversation caught Sakura's attention.

"It definitely wasn't Lee. You can bet on that."

"Good. It would do no good for the only Hyuuga male to be gay." said Shikamaru, sitting down to look at the clouds.

_ behind a bush_

"So ends this portion of Elimidate!" said Kakashi. "And now for the standings. . . . One down, three to go! We'll be back with more, after some messages from our sponsor!"

"That's a wrap!" said a cameraman.

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei, what now?" said Sasuke, handing him the Icha Icha certificate.

"Well, I think they ought to try something a little more. . . . Intimate, shall we say? Lunch is out of the question. The haunted house, perhaps?" said Kakashi, pocketing the certificate.

"Something like that." smiled Iruka. "Just get them together. And Sasuke-kun?"

"Yes, Iruka-sensei?"

"Gaara's in the area. I'd informed Temari-san in advance, and it might be wise to team up with him in the next round."

"Gaara? And Sakura?" said Sasuke.

"According to his siblings, Gaara has begun to take interest in the opposite gender. It seems that he has a preference for the pretty yet hard-hitting type. Temari says she heard Gaara and Shukaku (don't ask me how) talking about possible candidates, and he brought up Sakura in a conversation. Kankurou says that he talks about her every now and then and that he's trying to get Temari to introduce him. . . . . . Unconfirmed research, but if it comes from Temari, then it should be 75 percent accurate."

"Are you sure about this, Iruka-sensei?" said Sasuke, unable to imagine his teammate and Gaara dating. His female teammate, of course.

"It'll make for a good plot." said Kakashi.

"What will?" said Sabaku no Gaara, his head poking through the bush.

Kakashi explained the situation.

"I like it." grinned the sand ninja.

"Here we go. . . ." said Sasuke, rolling his eyes.


End file.
